Tom Latham and Will Jacks were both dismissed for 99 as leaders Surrey built a first-innings lead of 198 on the second day of their LV= Insurance County Championship match with Somerset at Taunton.
New Zealand’s Latham and Jacks fell just short of centuries as Surrey made 368 all out on a rain-shortened day in response to Somerset’s first-innings total of 170 all out. The hosts’ seamer Matt Henry finished with six for 80.
Surrey began the day on 138 for four, 32 runs behind, with Latham on 67 and Jacks on 13.
Nick Gubbins gave Hampshire a sniff of saving their fixture with Essex as they lead by 73 runs with four second-innings wickets remaining at the Ageas Bowl.
Hampshire looked on the brink of a fourth defeat of the season, which would have all but ended their title hopes, having given up a 49-run first-innings lead and lost four second-innings wickets before wiping out the deficit.
Jamie Porter was the main architect of their destruction with another three wickets to go with his first innings five for 37, but Gubbins made 44 – the highest individual score of the match so far – as Hampshire were 122 for six at the close.
Middlesex’s first-day charge towards victory over Warwickshire was slowed first by stubborn batting and then by bad weather on the second day at Edgbaston.
After a frenetic opening day of 312 runs for 22 wickets, Warwickshire, bowled out for 60 on the first morning, closed the second day on 189 for four in their second innings, leading by 50.
Sam Hain and Dan Mousley dug in to add 110 in 45 overs, hitting 66 not out and 58 respectively, as Warwickshire clawed their way back into the game, but Middlesex remain very strongly placed.
An unbeaten 61 by opener Luke Wells helped Lancashire have the best of a rain-affected second day against Northamptonshire at Emirates Old Trafford.
When the wet weather brought an early end to play, the home side were 121 for one in reply to Northamptonshire’s 342 after the visitors had begun the day on 302 for five.
Northamptonshire’s lower order squandered their first-day advantage, losing their last five wickets for 40 runs in less than 80 minutes’ play – the final four of them to the spinners, Jack Morley and Tom Hartley, for 13 runs in 28 balls.
Injury-kit Kent finished on 102 for two in reply to Nottinghamshire’s 350 all out on another rain-hit second day at Trent Bridge.
After Ben Slater’s opening-day century, wicketkeeper Tom Moores made 94 as Nottinghamshire secured three batting points – 20-year-old Jas Singh finishing with four for 87 as Kent collected three for bowling.
Division Two leaders Durham trail Yorkshire by 234 runs with nine first-innings wickets remaining after the second day in Scarborough.
Durham responded to the hosts’ commanding first-innings total of 340 by reaching 106 for one from 33 overs with former Yorkshire opener Alex Lees unbeaten on 65.
Yorkshire advanced from 142 for two overnight thanks to Adam Lyth’s 111 off 188 balls and Jordan Thompson’s 54 off 52 deliveries, including four fours and as many sixes.
Derbyshire reached 95 without loss to trail by 426 runs in reply to Glamorgan’s first-innings total of 521 for eight declared.
Luis Reece (52 not out) and Harry Came (37no) shared an unbroken opening stand in 40 overs before rain prevented any play after tea.
In Cheltenham, Worcestershire fought back from 182 for seven to end the first day on 265 for seven against Gloucestershire.
Brett D’Oliveira (53no), Gareth Roderick (53) and Matthew Waite (64) contributed half-centuries as wickets fell regularly, with the former sharing an unbroken partnership of 83 with Josh Baker (40no).
Chase outdone by opposite number Paudel as West Indies A suffer four-wicket loss to Nepal
West Indies A’s tour of Nepal got off to an unfortunate start, after they suffered a four-wicket loss to their host in a high scoring opening fixture of their five-match Twenty20 series at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur, on Saturday.
Set a formidable 204 by West Indies A, Nepal’s thrilling victory, which was set up by a captain’s knock from Rohit Paudel, etched their names in the history books, as they successfully got to their target at 206-6 with two balls to spare.
Paudel smashed a 54-ball 112, including 10 fours and two sixes to see his team to a 1-0 lead in the series, which West Indies Head coach Darren Sammy said offers his team a chance to define roles and personnel more clearly for their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup squad.
However, the Caribbean side’s all-round effort was found wanting, as only captain Roston Chase (74), Alick Athanaze (47) and Keacy Carty (38) offered any resistance with the bat, while only Obed McCoy (2-34) and Matthew Forde (2-49) had some semblance of success with the ball.
Scores: West Indies A 204-5 (20 overs); Nepal 206-6 (19.4 overs)
Asked to take first strike, after losing the toss, West Indies A suffered an early blow, as they lost Johnson Charles (zero) off the last ball of the opening over, with 16 runs on the board. Andre Fletcher (13) stuck two sixes off five balls, before he too departed via the run-out route, leaving West Indies A at 43-2 in the fourth over.
However, Athanaze went about business, striking three sixes and five fours in a 25-ball knock, as he put on 43 for the third wicket with Chase, prior to his demise. From there, Chase and Carty added another 60 runs in a fourth-wicket stand that defined the innings.
Carty’s 38 off 26 balls, included two fours and three sixes, while Chase, who anchored the innings with a captain’s knock, struck nine fours and two sixes in his 46-ball 74. Kadeem Alleyne, on 14, and Keemo Paul, one, were left not out.
No Nepal bowler took more than one wicket.
With runs on the board, West Indies A would have felt confident of wrapping up a win, even more so, after Forde and McCoy combined to remove openers Anil Sah (five) and Kushal Bhurtel (16) to have Nepal at 38-2 in the fifth over.
West Indies remained in the ascendancy when Fletcher and Charles combined to run out Kushal Malla (16), leaving their host on the ropes at 82-3 at the halfway mark.
However, Paudel showed class, in not only reviving his team’s innings, but pushed them all the way with some aggressive stroke play, assisted by wayward bowling from West Indies A attack at times. Dipendra Singh Airee (24) offered support to his captain in getting Nepal across the line for a famous victory.
Bairstow hails 'ballistic' Kings after record IPL run chase
Jonny Bairstow saluted "ballistic" Punjab Kings following their historic Indian Premier League victory over Kolkata Knight Riders.
The England batter scored an unbeaten century as the Kings successfully chased down 262 - the highest in T20 history - with eight balls to spare at Eden Gardens.
Bairstow hit a wonderful 108 not out from 48 balls - with nine sixes along the way - while Shashank Singh chipped in with 68 from 28 deliveries as the Kings ended their four-game losing streak.
"We knew that we had to go ballistic after how they batted," said the 34-year-old, who made his second IPL century five years after his first. "We had to take risks, and thankfully they came off.
"I've never been faced with a target like that before. So, we knew the powerplay would be important, and if anything is close to being in your area, you've got to make the most of it."
The performances of Bairstow and Singh contributed towards further history, with the overall tally of 42 sixes the highest recorded in a single T20 match.
"Cricket has turned to baseball, hasn't it?!" Punjab skipper Sam Curran added. "Guys can hit balls for long periods of time, the coaches, training, the dew, dot balls become wide after reviews and you get the extra ball. Stats are going of the window."
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer was left disappointed to see his side's impressive haul overturned, but urged his team-mates to learn from the experience.
"Both teams played tremendously. You have to go back to the drawing board and see where you went wrong," he said. "Not defending hurts, but it's a great lesson for the players."
Mottley renews call for Windies women to be treated equally to male counterparts
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has once again encouraged Cricket West Indies (CWI) to invest and reward the region’s female cricketers in the same manner as the men.
Mottley, who first made the call last year, used the platform on Thursday’s opening day of the CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, to once again lobby for more attention to be paid to women’s cricket.
“It is the young people and I’m happy that finally it is not just boys, but boys and girls who will become the men and women who can become these global citizens with Caribbean roots. My heart filled with pride this week when Hayley Matthews was heralded by Wisden as the T20 Cricketer of the Year, and it did so because Mr. President, when you and I first met when you took over, it was actually International Women’s Day, March 8, and I asked you then to start the journey of removing the discriminatory practices between men and women,” Mottley said at the event in Trinidad and Tobago.
“Practices that go as far as the quality of the coverage and the camera covering the game, meaning that it becomes less alluring to those who may not be fully engaged purely because when you look at IPL and you look at the women playing cricket in many other jurisdictions it just doesn’t even look the same. That cannot be a metaphor for our own development and the fact and the obligation of removing the discrimination that exists between men and women’s cricket is absolutely critical,” she added.
Mottley declared her belief that the time was right for a historic mixed-gender cricket game to be played in the region.
“I have said to you, and I offer you now publicly again, that Kensington Oval, that iconic ground, could be a location where we break new ground again in history by having a mixed-gender game, recognizing that in the Olympics you’re going to soon have mixed gender relays and we don’t need to wait on others to lead us, but we can resume the leadership in ensuring that as the game has evolved from Test, to 50-over, to T20, to the increase in women’s cricket, that ultimately that will soon be the next step,” she shared.
On that note, the Prime Minister, pointed out that it was also important that opportunities be created for not only male and female cricketers, but for persons who have skills in other areas.
“We have an obligation to be able to level the field by the investments that we have to make in this sport, recognizing that not all may make the team and wear that maroon, but all can participate at different levels to make a living," Mottley noted.
“Whether it is exporting persons to help in coaching across the world…whether it is through the ability of us to have as many of our youngsters play. Whether it is in the creation of the supply of world class and first-class umpires, whether it is in people who are in the business of keeping the field, the outfield and the pitches in good form, or in the ability to sell pitches to the United States of America instead of them buying from Australia. Whatever it is, we must plan now the careful investment that will allow us to see this as a viable productive and economic sector," she ended.
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